Fathers, Brothers, Mothers, Sisters

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8.12.07

the job of the leaders of this church is
to disciple the rest of you
disciple means teach you
to live in a way that pleases God
I have been wrestling with the question
How do we disciple the people of this church?
there are numerous young men
and young women
who sit here Sunday morning for a sermon
but have no relationship with anyone
and no other training
they leave here at 12 and see no one from this church again all week
until next Sunday at 10:30:
how can we disciple you?

Luke 8:1-3
10:38-42
I want to start with this point.
Jesus discipled women,
which means taught.
he did not think they were beneath that.
There is nothing in the NT to imply that women are less important,
less valuable, less intelligent, less capable, less talented,
have less leadership qualities than men

I say all that first
because I also want to acknowledge that Jesus picked men
to be his Apostles and leaders
Luke 6:12-16
Jesus started with men
focuses his teaching on men
and then sent them out
he by no means gives them his exclusive attention
but he did start with men
and we are told many times in the gospels he took the men aside to teach them
compare our church here
we have women’s groups/classes
children’s classes
youth groups
we put a great deal of effort/money into them
this Sunday morning service is coed
all of our pastor led Bible studies and adult SS classes are coed

The leaders of this church should begin our discipleship with training men
these men will be the men who reach other men, the “fishers of men”
(men need other men, men follow men)
these men will be the future leaders of this church
these men as the heads of households will disciple their wives and children
and future families

1 Timothy 5:1-2
These are Paul’s instructions to Timothy
the leader of the church in Ephesus
there are similarities with my situation because Timothy is a young man
responsible for leading people much older
Paul teaches that the church should operate like a family
Timothy a young man
should treat the older men as fathers
the young men like himself as brothers
the older women as mothers
and the young women he should treat as sisters
“in purity” not as a sexual relationship

I would add for the benefit of the older leaders in our church
Paul does not say it
because he is instructing a young man
but certainly he would approve of treating younger men as sons
and young women as daughters
age brings with it authority and respect
gender and age are not to be ignored
we are not to treat every Christian as a generic disciple,
all the same
those distinctions are important

Titus 2:1-8
Once again we have Paul’s advice to a leader of a church: Titus
he was on the island of Crete
and apparently there were house churches in the different towns
and he was over all of them for a time
I want you to notice how the people are distinguished from one another
and how they require different teaching
perhaps at different times and in different settings

verse 2
teach the older men
this meant 50 and up
he begins with the current leaders of the church,
these older men included the elders
these would be the ones leading and teaching others

verse 3-5
teach the older women
50 and up
remember he is to treat them as mothers, not as girls, but as mothers

he never tells Titus to teach the young woman
(perhaps, because of the temptations involved
or because it would look bad for a young man
to be with a young woman that is not his wife)
instead it says that the older women should teach the younger women
so it appears that Paul advocated times when
women taught women
women better understand other women
older women have been where they young women are now
Older women: are you teaching the younger women here?
Younger women: are you listening?
but do the older women ever help the younger women?
I think a few of you would say “yes”
most of you “no”
women need time to be with women
I have a list of 31 young women who are not in any groups with other women
There is a woman’s small group starting this Wednesday
a group for mothers is also in the works

verse 6-7
Titus is also instructed
to teach the young men
this means 20s/30s/40s
These are the future leaders
many of these are the heads of households
or the future heads of households

We have 30 young men in their 20s, 30s, 40s
only 2 of them ever meet together outside Sunday morning
I am going to be starting at least one group for these men
If you are a young man and you only show up here on Sunday morning
I want you to give serious prayer and consideration
to the idea of joining this group

Let me remind us all of this
we put no faith in groups or classes
or my ability to teach
or any of us
let me close by reminding you where we look for discipleship
and transforming power:
Titus 2:11- 3:11

Church: What’s the point? (V)

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1.28.07

Today I want to talk about church meetings,
some call them services: why attend?

This will surprise some of you,
but nowhere are we given directions on how to have a service.
We are never told the things that we must do in every service
and what order to do them in.
There is no distinction of an “official” service.
There are just various meetings.

What we have is only this:
Various commandments telling us to do certain things
when we are together.
We are commanded to meet.
We are commanded to do certain things when we meet,
but these meetings could be informal gatherings of three people
or a service of several hundred.
Also, we are not commanded to do all these things at the same time.
We could have the Lord’s Supper on Sunday,
teaching on Tuesday, prayer meeting on Wednesday
and singing on Friday if we wanted.

I want to show you seven commands.

1. Leaders are commanded to read Scripture
and teach people meeting together
1 Timothy 4:13

In this verse a leader is being commanded
to read scripture publicly
to read publicly there must be a group of Christians meeting together.
The leader is also commanded to explain what has been read
and exhort the believers to believe and obey it.
Your leaders have been commanded to teach you.
This means that You must meet with fellow believers to be taught.
If you are neglecting that, you are neglecting God’s way of doing church.
Many of you are neglecting it. I challenge you.

2. We are commanded to censure disobedient members publicly.
1 Corinthians 5:4-5

Discipline was done publicly in a meeting.
If someone in the community is living in blatant disobedience
and has refused to repent, he should be publicly before the meeting
announced as cast back outside the church to Satan.
He should be prayed for.
The goal is the destruction of that part of him that is opposed to God.
The goal is his repentance and salvation.
If someone falls into blatant disobedience
we are to publicly cast him out
so that the gravity of the situation can be fully appreciated
by all members and the man himself.

3. We are commanded to eat the Lord’s Supper together as one.
1 Corinthians 11:33
I fully explored this 3 weeks ago, so I will not go into detail today.
We are commanded to eat the Lord’s Supper together as one family.
We are not to eat it separately from one another,
as individuals or splintered into factions
the church even if it is a church of 12 should eat together
as a symbol of our unity.

4. We are commanded that individuals should contribute to meetings
for the building up of the whole community
1 Corinthians 14:26

a few things to notice:
the leaders are not the only ones who should speak
the people should bring something to build others up

Issues of debate: What is prophecy? What is tongues?
Are they still available? Are women allowed to contribute?
I do not want to get into that at this time.

But simply say this:
God spoke through the common people when they spoke to each other.
They all had opportunity to speak to build one another up.

Most Sunday mornings we do not allow for this opportunity.
This morning Susan did just this.
She brought a song and a word of testimony.
I think we should do this more on Sunday morning,
but we must have a regular time for this in some of the meetings.
Small groups, WIC circles, Sunday School.
Each one of you should seek the Lord’s guidance on this.
Does he have something he wants you to speak privately to someone?
Or publicly in a group?
But not for your benefit
but for the up building of the whole church.
I encourage each one of you to ask God to use you in this way.

5. We are commanded to meet together to sing
Ephesians 5:18-20

Paul commands you to be filled with the Spirit!
this is a command you can obey
What will the Spirit do in you?
cause you to praise Jesus and give God thanks
the psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are best taken as synonyms,
trying to differentiate between them is pure conjecture
used interchangeably in the Greek OT

but don’t miss this
When we are meeting together
this singing is also directed at one another in the meeting
Christians strengthen one another by singing praises to God
in Colossians such singing is called admonishing one another
and in 1 Corinthians it builds up other Christians

When we gather here
you should be filled by the Spirit
praising God and giving thanks
in such a way that speaks to other Christians
and strengthens them, builds them up
You are here to sing to God and your brothers and sisters.

6. We are commanded to have the elders meet with us
to pray for us when we are seriously ill.
James 5:14

7. We are commanded to confess our sins to one another
and pray for one another.
James 5:16

We are not commanded to have a pastor lead us in prayer
or to pray together in unison. Or to have an old-fashioned prayer meeting
where we pray for people who are not present.
Not that these things are wrong.
But in a meeting we are commanded
to pray for one another gathered there together.
There is great power in having someone pray for you
when you are present there.

John Wesley divided Christians into small groups
so that they could obey James 5:16.

If you are sick, call on the elders to pray for you.
If you have a secret sin in your life,
confess it to other Christians today and have them pray for you.
You need the strength that comes from such prayers.
You are commanded to do this.

Fight the Good Fight

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7.23.06

I am going to be speaking to men today.
Women, I think it will be helpful to you as well.

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith.

I once had someone tell me “I don’t like all these metaphors of war and soldiers and fighting in the Bible. It makes me uncomfortable.”

Why does Paul call his life a fight?
Why did he tell Timothy to fight?

I overheard my 3 year old son Lou playing the other day.
He had a sword in his hand and he had taken a resolute stance with his sword up, his teeth clenched, his eyes staring hard.
I heard him talking to imaginary comrades who were gathered around him.
Some terrible enemy or evil was approaching them rapidly.
Lou bravely shouted over his shoulder to his warrior friends: “You go, I will deal with them.”
And then he turned back to meet his certain end,
and to engage the enemy with full fury.
And as I watched the battle ensued and he began swinging with abandon.
What is wrong with that boy? Did no one ever tell him to be a nice and meek and mild?

Boys like to imagine they are warriors or soldiers or superheroes.
When we were at a store the other day and I told Lou he could pick out one of the dollar toys to take home, what did he pick out?
A little pack of men with swords.

When my son first saw one of the Star Wars movies or an X-Men movie he was transfixed: pure delight passed over his face.

Men and boys like movies and books about heroes who struggle bitterly to overcome obstacles.
Men and boys like sports because of the intensity, the struggle, the competition, the victory.
We like heroic deeds.
We like strength and vigor and intensity.
We like fights.

Most men dream about being heroes,
being in a heroic struggle and making heroic sacrifices.
but most men are not heroes
we are not willing to actually fight.
We are too lazy and scared and enamored with comfort to actually do anything.
We are content to entertain ourselves with such heroes,
but none of us seems willing to be one.

Another problem is the church seems to be intent
on stripping men of this warrior element
and making them nice and polite with a certain feminine softness, men who would never raise their voices.

Jesus is presented as meek and mild
not at all the kind of man that led a band of men
through three years of wandering
and into the danger of Jerusalem

Paul was a fighter and when he came to the end of his life, he saw it as a fight.
He encourage Timothy to fight.
Is Paul encouraging Timothy to use real weapons and to engage in actual physical violence? no
but he was calling Timothy to heroic struggle and exertion
to heroic self-sacrifice
to the surmounting of opposition and obstacles

Paul was willing to be dangerous
Paul was willing to oppose
Paul was willing to take risks
Paul was willing to make sacrifices
Paul was willing to struggle
Paul was willing to fight through obstacles

Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-27

Men are leaving church all the time
especially younger men
because they are bored
Many of our teenagers are bored
many have left and many more will leave
They don’t see any fight here.

I will tell you the truth.
I think they look around at us and they don’t really want to be like us.
Men, let us be honest, many of us are wimps.
We have removed the warrior element from our Christianity.
We like to be safe and secure.

I believe that if some of us stood up and fought the good fight.
Men and women of all ages would follow us.

Use the skills, talents, abilities God has given you to do something bold.
something challenging.
Do something dangerous!
Take risks!
Struggle and overcome obstacles.
Christ wants a church of men.
Christ wants a church of fighters.

I have spent most of my adult days
looking for a Christianity with heroism

When my son, Lou, grows up I know he will reject many things about me.
He will reject many of my ideas, my ways,
and that is all right.
He does not have to be just like me.
But I pray that he will see in me a spirit, a fighting spirit, that he will want to emulate.

1 Samuel 14:1-23
1 Samuel 30:1-20
John 2:12-17
Hebrews 11:32-39

Training

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